How to Get Content for Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate marketing is a smart way to generate passive income and monetize your online presence. In order for affiliate marketing to be successful, you have to start with great content. Read on to discover how to generate the best possible affiliate marketing content.
Why Is Content Important to Affiliate Marketing?
The foundation of an affiliate marketing strategy is content. The more persuasive, engaging, and informative your content is, the more effective your affiliate marketing will become. Successful affiliate marketing relies on high-quality content because it can lead to a greater organic reach, more website traffic, an increased feeling of honesty, and a more informed, persuasive voice.
Increases Your Reach
Excellent content is a critical part of your content marketing strategy. Through unique, relevant, and valuable content, you can increase your reach in two distinct ways. First, great content can bring in more readers or users thanks to targeted search engine optimization. Truly good content will read well and be engaging as well as informative, but it will also include designated keywords that can generate more readers for your website. This can propel your website to the top of a search engine results page, increasing traffic from your desired audience pool. Second, quality content can increase traffic thanks to viral, organic sharing. If you offer interesting content, users will want to pass that along to their friends, family members, or colleagues. Content referred from in-network in this way can have a dramatic impact on readers and go a long way in boosting your company’s online visibility and name recognition.
Appears Honest and Genuine to Readers
High-quality content for affiliate sites can also help your brand or your website appear trustworthy to readers. If the content users are reading contains grammatical errors or spelling mistakes, or if the content doesn’t feel genuine, then users may move on to a more reputable website that they can trust. Be personable and showcase your personality in the writing. Readers don’t want to just be presented with facts and figures; they also want to understand how their lives can improve as a result of a particular product. When you present superb content, users feel a stronger connection and may be drawn in to what you have to say. That, in turn, can keep them coming back and potentially clicking links along the way.
Establishes Authority on the Subject
Finally, great content positions you and your company as a thought leader. If you can deliver entertainment, information, and specific knowledge about a product or service, then users will look to you for advice. If you recommend a certain product or service with clear and specific reasons, they will recognize that you know what you’re talking about. While overly technical jargon isn’t necessary, don’t be afraid to use an authoritative voice throughout your content.
Types of Content for Affiliate Marketing
There are countless types of content that you can use in your affiliate marketing strategy. If you’re considering what content to put on your affiliate marketing website, there are virtually no limits. Simply consider what type of content your desired audience would most appreciate and how best to deliver links to affiliate products in a way that feels organic and natural to the user. Among the most popular types of content for affiliate marketing purpose are the following:
Product Reviews
One of the most common and most effective types of content for affiliate marketing is the product review. In the past, people went to their friends and neighbors to ask about products and services. Today, that circle has expanded to online search engines, and people are eager to crowdsource opinions about new products. When creating product reviews, make sure to address the questions people really want to know: How does the product work? Is it effective? What do the results look like? Some prior research will allow you to uncover those pain points that have to be addressed. Video or written content can be effective, but visual reviews carry more weight and are generally seen as more trustworthy. Disclosure is key for a product review, but adding some personal background can make the review feel honest rather than forced.
Product Comparisons
Product comparisons take on a similar tone and feel to product reviews, but the goal here is to rank two or more products. Ideally, you should have affiliate links available to the more successful of the products. However, this also provides opportunities to offer pros and cons of both products as well as affiliate links to both. Product comparisons can include lists, rankings, or any other way to highlight the benefits and shortcomings of multiple products in relation to one another. Ideally, the author would have tried each product personally or have access to research outlining the attributes of each product. As always, honesty is key for these reviews, and an overly-positive comparison or a clear winner for the affiliate-linked product may not be seen as genuine.
Tutorials
A tutorial is a great way to share with your audience a how-to guide for something. Depending on your niche and your company, you might be showing individuals how to file their taxes using a new type of software or how to curl their hair with a new hair product. Either way, tutorials should be straightforward and easy to follow along since most people seeking out a tutorial want to replicate the action themselves. Tutorials can be entirely written, but those with pictures or even full videos will often be the most effective. It is especially important in a tutorial to disclose affiliate links, particularly in a video format. Also, be sure to specify where links are available if using video as your content medium. Some videos can include hyperlinks right on the screen on platforms like YouTube, or you can include them in captions and description below the tutorial video.
E-books, Guides, and Resource Pages
These types of content are ideal for affiliate marketing because they can serve two critical purposes. First, e-books, guides, and resource pages offer detailed information and plenty of opportunities for affiliate linking. This type of content tends to be more in-depth, offering industry knowledge for interested users. It should take an informative tone compared to a more conversational piece. The additional benefit of these content types is that they can generate leads. Unlike many other types of content, it is common for e-books and guides to be available to those who download them in exchange for contact information like email addresses.
Emails
Email affiliate marketing can be a great tool in your overall strategy. Through an email, you can share targeted information to the recipient that meets their specific needs. Through this targeting, you can increase total open rates and reduce spam classifications. The key to a successful email affiliate strategy is to create an appealing headline, a strong opener, and content that reaches the right person at the right time. Depending on your audience and available resources, you can change anything from the header to the content from one group to the next. Generic, mass-emailed content is less successful than a targeted approach, so be sure to specify what makes each email relevant to each recipient. Then, users are more likely to trust, open, and click through your links.
Blog Articles
A blog article is a fantastic way to establish trust with your reader and sprinkle in affiliate links along the way. Unlike more direct product reviews, a blog post should be generally informative, offering advice that revolves around the primary product or products. However, it can also include dispersed affiliate links or a clear call to action following the bulk of the content. Once again, a disclosure for affiliate links is required for your blog article, both for legal reasons and to be up-front with your audience in order to maintain a strong and ongoing relationship.
Social Media Posts
Many of the content types above, such as product reviews or comparisons, can fit into a social media post. This is fantastic for a visual audience, and it leverages influence for those with large followings on platforms like Facebook or Instagram. Influencers can bring in a significant profit from affiliate marketing without the need for a website as long as their social media content is high-quality, follows the letter of the law, and allows them to be seen as an authority in their field.
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How to Write Content for Affiliate Marketing
Whatever your affiliate marketing content ideas happen to be, there are some key factors to keep in mind as you begin establishing your voice. Knowing your audience, the right keywords, the basics of content structure, and the merit of your authority is critical for maximizing the value of your content and each of your affiliate marketing links.
Make sure you know who you are writing for. Is your intended audience middle-class mothers or young college students trying to save money? Everything from your tone to your vocabulary to your advice should be influenced by your target audience. To help you focus on this audience, put together a buyer persona and imagine you are writing directly to that persona from now on.
While you should absolutely consider your audience, try to balance that with your own voice and experience. Readers can tell when you are passionate and knowledgeable about a topic, so help them by adding in specific details. If you have a particular anecdote about a product, share that with your readers. Not only will your content seem more approachable, but your audience will invest in you as well as your future opinions and reviews.
Finally, writing content for affiliate marketing is a combination of art and science. On one hand, you need to weave an interesting and compelling narrative. On the other, you should follow some tried-and-true guidelines that can impact your content’s success. For example, all affiliate marketers should be conducting keyword research. This is what can ensure your content makes its way to the top of search engine results pages for the right people. Suitable keywords can optimize your content for search engines, which is critical for long-term success.
In addition, pay attention to your content’s structure. Like a traditional essay, you should open with a brief summary that pulls in the reader. The bulk of the body should be persuasive, with strong lead sentences. End with a declarative summary and a call to action that uses actionable verbs and advice for readers.
Affiliate Marketing Content Examples
As you begin strategizing for your own affiliate marketing content, it can be helpful to see a few examples of affiliate marketing done well. Two companies that have excelled in affiliate marketing in large part because of their great content include Runner’s World and NerdWallet.
Runner’s World is first and foremost a print magazine but, like many companies, has stepped into the digital world. Runner’s World clearly specifies that they have affiliate marketing links throughout their website, but their content is geared specifically to a target audience of passionate runners. They offer product reviews and comparisons, and they home in on specific products like men’s trail running shoes or women’s winter jackets for running. Their content is written by running experts, and they have a clear sense of authority on the web in their niche.
Another great example is NerdWallet, a website that reviews a wide range of financial products. One reason they are so successful is the sheer volume of content they create. In addition, they continually refresh old content to make it more timely. For example, the best rewards credit cards of 2019 article will get redone for 2020. This allows them to make the most of great quality content while still being relevant on search engines and to their target audience.
How to Find Content Writers for Affiliate Marketing
Clearly, high-quality content is a must in the world of affiliate marketing. However, not every company can or wants to hire in-house writers to generate that content. Fortunately, there are plenty of options for those who want to find content managers outside of their company. These potential options can include the following:
Freelance Content Writers
When companies first consider looking for content writers to build up their affiliate marketing strategy, freelance writers might come to mind. These are independent writers that set their own prices and communicate directly with their clients. This can be beneficial, but it can also be risky to place all your bets on a single author. Also challenging is finding the right freelance content writer amidst a sea of potential options.
Agency Content Writers
Another option is an agency content writer. A content writing agency offers a number of writers who can create content according to your needs. These agencies tend to be trusted and may even offer a guarantee for their work. However, they also tend to be the most expensive option as they have overhead costs that go well above what a traditional freelance writer might require. For big budgets that need quick turnaround times, agency content writers can be an appropriate choice.
Platform Content Writers
For flexibility and scalability, platform content writers are typically a great choice for affiliate marketers. Digital platforms will have a staggering variety of content writers available, allowing companies to prioritize their needs. Whether you require a content writer with specific industry knowledge, one who can help you meet a tight deadline, or one who can generate content within your budget, you can find a range of options. Often, you can choose quality level, length, and more to narrow in on the right author for your affiliate marketing needs.
Affiliate marketing is a profitable choice for many, but it requires great content in order to succeed. Your affiliate marketing links will get more clicks if you are reaching the right audience, generating appealing content, and connecting with as many readers as possible. Fortunately, there are a number of talented content writers capable of generating the affiliate marketing content that perfectly suits your digital needs.
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